Cathal Nola: From TR scholar to director
The Theodore Roosevelt Association has named a Boston University history professor as executive director.
Cathal Nolan, an international relations scholar, two weeks ago took over operations of the Muttontown-based group that has more than 2,000 members and is dedicated to promoting recognition of the 26th president.
Hiring Nolan, author of "The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations" and other foreign policy books, is a critical part of a changeover of top management to make the organization more active and visible, said board member and TR's great-grandson Tweed Roosevelt. "He's a TR scholar, a very energetic, thoughtful, intelligent and forward-looking guy," Roosevelt said of the new director.
Nolan, 50, who was born in Ireland and whose first name is pronounced CAW'-hull, has worked at BU for 11 years and since 1999 has been executive director of its International History Institute.
"I've been an academic for 20 years," he said, "and I was ready for a new challenge."
He added that running the TRA "is an extraordinary platform about a transformational president." Before Roosevelt, Nolan said, this country was "really a minor power. The United States becomes the principal shaping force of world history in the 20th century and TR is the principal initial shaper of that force."
Nolan, who often is told he resembles TR, wants to supplement the association's quarterly magazine with an annual journal; improve fundraising and membership; establish a film program; set up a naval history lecture series with the Naval War College in Newport and a lecture program at a West Coast university focusing on TR and conservation; and begin having the TRA publish its own books about Roosevelt.
Nolan succeeds acting chief executive Edward Renehan Jr. of Rhode Island, a historian who stepped in after the death last year of executive director John A. Gable. And the TRA board chairman for the past six years, Norman Parsons of Sea Cliff, will step down in October but remain on the board.
Cathal Nolan, an international relations scholar, two weeks ago took over operations of the Muttontown-based group that has more than 2,000 members and is dedicated to promoting recognition of the 26th president.
Hiring Nolan, author of "The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations" and other foreign policy books, is a critical part of a changeover of top management to make the organization more active and visible, said board member and TR's great-grandson Tweed Roosevelt. "He's a TR scholar, a very energetic, thoughtful, intelligent and forward-looking guy," Roosevelt said of the new director.
Nolan, 50, who was born in Ireland and whose first name is pronounced CAW'-hull, has worked at BU for 11 years and since 1999 has been executive director of its International History Institute.
"I've been an academic for 20 years," he said, "and I was ready for a new challenge."
He added that running the TRA "is an extraordinary platform about a transformational president." Before Roosevelt, Nolan said, this country was "really a minor power. The United States becomes the principal shaping force of world history in the 20th century and TR is the principal initial shaper of that force."
Nolan, who often is told he resembles TR, wants to supplement the association's quarterly magazine with an annual journal; improve fundraising and membership; establish a film program; set up a naval history lecture series with the Naval War College in Newport and a lecture program at a West Coast university focusing on TR and conservation; and begin having the TRA publish its own books about Roosevelt.
Nolan succeeds acting chief executive Edward Renehan Jr. of Rhode Island, a historian who stepped in after the death last year of executive director John A. Gable. And the TRA board chairman for the past six years, Norman Parsons of Sea Cliff, will step down in October but remain on the board.